What could have been
by Naruto410
Summary: Sakura's life comes to a abrupt halt because of a long kept, life changing secret. Contemplating her priorities and maturing into a new persona, she discovers her potential and the true meaning of being a shinobi! Steadily strong Sakura.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 1

Today was the day that the teams were going to be allotted. If things were the way they were before Sakura would have been more excited than anything, wishing she was put on team with her precious Sasuke but now she didn't care much. She was on her way to the academy, the last week had come and gone. She had spent a good part of it sleeping around, making drawings in her classes and particularly avoiding her father and her (revealed a week ago) step mother. Osha was nice but Sakura didn't had it in her to call her "mom", she had asked her if she could call her Osha and she had agreed. Her father although not happy had also went along with it. Since then she had plundered her father with questions but the reply was always the same "You will know when your older, but you should know she was a kunoichi named Kurehime from the village of mist with pink hair like the spring and green eyes like the grass". Well now atleast she knew where she got her hair from. Her father had said that Kurihime was very passionate about her, and she had been delighted to have her but a sickness had took her just after two years Sakura had been born. Her father said that she had made him promise to marry again so Sakura would never need to feel the emptiness felt by children with no mothers, and when the time was right Sakura would know. Her father had told this story with such sadness and emptiness that Sakura had known that he wasn't telling the whole truth, it was like he was hiding something. She had been good at inspecting people but she didn't have it in her to ask what, seeing his face she knew it would probably make him cry. Her father came from a civilian family who were merchants for years, they traded in between villages and were a moderately wealthy family so she got most of the things she wanted in her adolescence. She had spent the some time in the library looking for the name Kurihime but almost all ninja records were hidden, the few she could find were all famous ninja families of the leaf village the Hyugas,Naras,Yamanakas etc. Without the last name of her mother which her father had refused to give,she knew her efforts were gonna be fruitless. As she neared the Academy, she felt tears in her eyes but she swallowed them down. She had cried enough and crying was not gonna help, with that thought in her head she went inside the Academy door where everyone was gathering.

She had joined the ninja academy in hopes of impressing the black haired handsome uchiha heir whom every girl with a heartbeat beat lusted after. She was one of them but now it all seemed so meaningless. She had hoped to wed him and then bore him black haired cute uchiha babies, thinking the world was all ponies and rainbows. Her mother's truth had shattered her fantasy filled world. She didn't feel like continuing her career as a ninja anymore, what was she gonna do anyways, she was the weakest one in their class, her only strong point was her brain. She was bullied in her childhood when Ino yamanaka had been her savior but they had broken off their friendship in favor of winning Sasuke's love. She felt so stupid now for doing that to her friend for a boy who had always ignored her. She had once went to Sasuke to ask him out after finally gathering courage for weeks, he had given her a cold glare and told her she was annoying. She had cried and had told herself that she would make him love her. Now she just didn't have it in her to try. She made apoint in her mind to talk to Ino later on.

She had always known her parents to be civilians, now that her mother was revealed to be a kunoichi she still didn't feel like becoming a ninja. In the last week she had cried alot and come to many realizations. She had not thought about Sasuke at all and realized that it was just some stupid childish crush. After this realization the initial thought of resigning as a ninja come to her mind. Her main reason for joining the academy had just lost her interest, What was stopping her in the Academy? Anyways maybe she would talk to her dad later on about it. Her father had never been keen on the idea of her joining the academy but keen or not keen, he seemed borderland scared when she had asked him. But Sakura had whined and whined and cried for two whole weeks until he had agreed on it albeit reluctantly. He would probably gladly pull her out of the Academy. As these thoughts crossed her mind, she found Iruka at the end of the class announcing the teams of three. As he continued her name came up and she was put on team with Sasuke and Naruto Uzumaki. Naruto was a hyper active kid dressed in bright annoying orange jumpsuit. At one point she would have been delighted and horrified at this team because of Sasuke her beloved and Naruto the brat, but now she didn't care much. She was thinking of resigning and it didn't matter who she was placed with. But whenever she thought of giving up, it was like she was reminded of her mother, like someone was telling her to find the whole truth about her. She had to investigate, if her father was not going to tell her, she would just have to find out herself. She had a right to know after all and she never did understand why her father said she was not ready yet. What was there to be ready about? Even if she wasn't ready, why had he told her about it in the first place. Maybe if he hadn't, she would have lived her life happily but she knew she would find out one day. The truth always comes out.

With that thought in her mind she decided she would continue her ninja career until she finds out who her mother was, it gave her much more opportunity to investigate. After that she would let the situation decide for itself.

Ok guys if you like it, drop a review. It is my first time so try your best to ignore the mistakes. If you like it, tell me I will post chapter 2. This is mainly how Sakura could be if her chracter was properly developed in the anime, I don't like her being weak in the anime. Sakura is the main character and there are no pairings right chapter is short cause it's kind of like a epilogue but later chapters will be longer.


	2. The Disheveled Truth

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 2

"Sakura come down for breakfast, you are going to be late for your training session". Osha's voice came upstairs to her room. It was the third day of training today, their team had been assigned a masked white hair man as their sensei named Kakashi. Even with his white hair she knew he was young and looked good-looking even though you couldn't see most of his face, at most in his late twenties. All of them had introduced themselves on the first day the teams had been assigned. Naruto had given a long rant about ramen while Sasuke had brooded like usual saying something about revenge. Her answer had been the weirdest, when asked she had said " I am Sakura haruno, my likes are the truth the whole truth while I dislike lying to your children at a young age and hiding the whole truth when you tell them the hidden secret from their childhood. My goal is to find the whole truth of that secret, Oh yeah my hobby is reading". All of them had looked her strangely especially their sensei since he thought she was the normal one, after that she had just dozed off. Getting out of her thoughts before she got late, she went downstairs and saw boiled eggs and tea for breakfast. Not really in the mood for eggs she quickly mumbled a quick excuse and skipped out of the front door before waiting for a reply.

On her way to the training ground seven, she was deep in thought when she bumped into someone. Whispering a quick sorry she attempted to move forward but stopped when the stranger called her name. It was 6:00am and it was mostly deserted in the streets so she became a little scared. But when she looked up, she saw the third Hokage standing there with a soft smile, she was surprised he even knew her name. He was known as being close to Naruto Uzumaki she didn't know why. Most of the students who had graduated with her this year were heirs to famous clans of leaf village. All the teachers had said that this year was a unique year and they had worked especially hard to hone these students. But she was from a civilian family, well from her father's side at least and she was nothing special to be remembered. Shaking her head out of her surprise, the hokage continued " I see you have been put on team with Uzumaki and Uchiha, are you on your way to your training? " Yes, Hokage Sama" she replied. "I see, would you mind taking a walk with me, Kakashi does not have the habit of showing up on time." Suspicious at first why the hokage would want to take a walk with her, she agreed and she continued on her way with him.

The initial walk was silent and Sakura checked his Chakra to see if it was someone using a transformation jutsu. She also swept her Chakra along the path in the woods which was quite far from the village to see if there were other ninjas around or if this was a trap. Still paranoid, she may not have any other skill but she was extremely skilled in Chakra manipulation and chakra control. It always came easy to her almost like it was in her blood. She heard a chuckle and she turned towards the third looking puzzled. "You have already checked your surrounding twice child, fear not as I am not some intruder here to kill you. You are just like your mother." Red bells went jingling in her head at the mention of her mother. Her mother was a kunoichi from the village of mist and how did he even know who her mother was. Everyone thought that Osha was her mother. Calm down Sakura, calm down, he must be talking about Osha who he knew from some indirect relation. Keeping that in mind she said cautiously "How do you know my mother Hokage Sama, she is a civilian who has not seen much of shinobis."The hokage emitted a light chuckle and replied " There is no need to hide anything from me young one, Kurhime was a famous kunoichi of the mist, her reputation proceeded her. I knew her personally."Shocked beyond her mind, Sakura was stunned not noticing the road ahead of her as she wandered off further into the forest. "What do you know about her? How did she die? How did she look?" She went into a furry of questions not holding her breath for even a moment. The Hokage smiled and spoke " Take a break child, your queries will be answered. Your mother was a Hunter ninja in mist. That equals to the skill of our anbu nin of leaf whom which I am sure you have heard of. She knew of the Anbu ninjas in her village, they were selected by the hokage and each one of them specialized highly in their skills. They only took orders directly from the hokage himself. He continued " She came to the hidden leaf village cause she wanted a new life away from the mist village. As you might know, mist village is a bloody cruel place to live in. She didn't wanted to give me any details though. She fell in love with your dad here and giving your dad's haruno history, I made her promise that she would remain as a civilian here to keep her identity confidential. While here she went with the code name Mabekusi but her real name is Kurihime. That's all I know, my dear, I don't know what she was running from or whom she wanted to escape but I gave her a place here and we both agreed that no one must know her real name except your father and me. She never gave me her last name saying that was the cause of her run, we hid her when she was pregnant and she gave birth in secrecy because she wanted no harm to come to you because of her. She loved you dearly Sakura and when she gave birth to you, I was there and I saw the look in her eyes which clearly portrayed her thoughts, she would protect you with her life." Thoughts whirled through Sakura's mind at the speed of a tornado, there were a million questions rising in her mind and she felt tears at the corners of her eyes. She wanted to cry, cry for the mother she never had, but the next words that came out of the hokage's mouth made her blood freeze." Sarutobi interrupted her before she could start with them all. " The next words I say must not leave this place, no one must know about it, not even your father." He cast a few hand seals and they were enveloped by earth and it was dark, Sakura was scared ,curious and tears were running down her eyes now. "You must know this, the hokage began that your mother's death was not from a sickness." Anger flowed through her veins "What do you mean" she said "Do you mean to say my father lied to me again?" she said hotly. " Calm down, child. Anger brings nothing but pain if not channeled correctly. Your father only told you the side of the story that he knew of. The truth is your mother hid all of it from him so he could stay protected. I investigated further and found something but the place is not right, neither is the time. You shall know soon, I have taken up much time and shall take my leave". Before she could muster up anything in this strange fury of events that had taken place just recently, he was gone. The earth vanished back into the ground and he disappeared in a whirlwind of leaves. She just stood there with a disheveled expression on her face not knowing what to do.

That day Sakura showed up to training with a shaken up baffled expression on her face. Her head was swirling with this new information and more importantly it's hidden parts. Her talking with the hokage and the walk and taken her deeper into the woods then she could have thought. It had taken her about a hour and a half to find her way back. She checked the time, it was 9:30. She hurried to the ground and she looked like she had died and came back to life."Oh, how nice of you join us up Sakura."Kakashi's voice greeted her. Everyone looked at her strangely like she had grown a third head. She realized she must have been late if even Kakashi was present who usually showed up three hours later. Sasuke regarded her with a emotionless expression and Naruto being the nice kid that he was asked her numerous questions "Is everything alright Sakura-chan? Did someone ambush you? I am going to kick that sorry bastard's ass." "No, everything is fine. My uncle was in the house and I had to show him around the village, it took a lot of time. Sorry for being late." She lied after a moment of thought. She knew that she wasn't a very good liar but Naruto bought it easily enough. Kakashi on the other hand regarded her with a quirked eye not believing her but not wanting to ponder on. Sasuke had already resumed throwing shuriken at the tree as target practice obviously not caring. "Very well Sakura, you may just sit down, we are almost finished with training and you look like you need to sit down." Kakashi said with a bored, laid back expression on his face, like he didn't care much about Sakura's training.

That snapped something in her mind. From the first day since there team was decided, it always seemed like Kakashi was much more interested in Sasuke. He had that look in his eyes that said that he wanted to make Sasuke his golden student, favoritism was not rare in teachers and she knew he was the uchiha prodigy. Hell, he even sounded more interested in Naruto , when it was her turn he always regarded her with a bored eye. Like she was the extra baggage of his team. She had never had the intention of becoming stronger, hell she was thinking of giving up the other day. But now, all that information was swirling around her head, her mother was running away from someone, she could not even say her last name for heaven's sake. And she had to hide who her mother really was so she wouldn't get harmed? She wasn't even sure if her mother even died a natural death. That brought tears at the corners of her eyes but she swallowed them down. She felt determination in her eyes, her mother was a hunter nin, she belonged to a part ninja family no one knew about. She felt new found courage and the need to become stronger. She felt so helpless right now, like she was capable of just standing there. She was going to find out what happened to her mother, she would bore her name and anyone who would try to harm her would be tore apart. She felt angry but the Hokage's words came to mind. "Anger brings nothing but pain if not channeled in the right direction." She knew it was a small step but she said "No. Rather loudly, everyone looked at her, Kakashi looked a little surprised, he must have thought she would have been happy with no training taking her for a fan girl obviously. "Very well, Naruto spar with Sakura. Sasuke your with me, since Sakura here showed up late and seems so enthusiastic to not miss training, we are gonna train for another 2 hours". No one seemed to mind, Naruto looked happy even. Sakura proceeded to a clearing with Naruto. She had always hated Naruto, he was still annoying to her but the main reason for hating him was that he always got in the way of her and Sasuke. But now he didn't seem half as bad, he still needed to keep quite some of the times but he wasn't bad at heart. She readied her almost non-existent shaky stance in opposition to Naruto's sure footed stance who looked reluctant to attack her obviously knowing she was weak even with his huge crush on her. But she had one thought in mind. Maybe it was time to get serious to protect those she loved and to never be a damsel in distress who relied on others for the truth! One thing was for sure though, it was gonna take a lot of hard work!

Well guys, If you like it leave a review. Thanks to my first two reviewers and yes shadowmimic, as you can see their will be plenty of dialogues now. And please do review, it helps me update more quickly as I can see people like my story. If you have any questions let me know!


	3. The Mysterious Savior

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Chapter 3: The mysterious savior**

It had been about five days since she had her enlightening encounter with the third hokage. After that she had continued to try to reach the hokage but it was to no avail. The hokage was a busy man and the one time she had actually tried to get to his office, she had been merely set off by a grumpy looking man a the desk saying the hokage had no time for little girls unless he called her herself.

For the rest of the time, the hokage was either in some council meetings which were happening rather a lot lately or absent from his office. She had given up a while on her 'searching for the truth mission' on the third day and had decided to focus on her training which needed a miracle frankly.

She had spend heaps of her time at the library searching for basic jutsus or anything which helped in becoming stronger, but she knew that it would take almost double the time learning on her own. She didn't knew her chakra nature but she had memorized some basic elemental jutsus which she had failed in experimenting. She knew she had great chakra control and a sharp mind but that was it.

Sakura knew now that her mother was a kunoichi, a powerful and a famous one if the words of the hokage was of any worth. Hell, that was the reason she had decided to change her path of dreams. Finding about her mother was just a failure for her, she could not talk to anyone because of what the third said and it was not like anyone even knew Osha was her adoptive mother. Chances of them knowing her real mother were in negative.

She had gone to training regularly but Sasuke still regarded her as fodder and Kakashi treated her like the team's weak link. She had gotten to like Naruto as he was the only one who had complimented her and felt the need to talk to her. She felt bad for treating him so bad in the Academy for a stupid crush. But even he didn't like going hard on her obviously knowing she was a weak little doll ready to break with the slightest of punch. No one was taking her seriously and she was starting to notice the extra time kakashi was putting on Sasuke. Sasuke and Naruto were constantly bickering but they had started to form a bond.

Sakura sighed. She looked at the time, it was 9 in the night and she decided to go out for a walk to clear her head. It wasn't that late and the streets were pretty crowded. Not wanting to worry her father, she opened the window to her room on the first story of her house and jumped out putting chakra to her feet so she didn't get hurt. She was already dressed and had eaten supper. Osha was cleaning downstairs and her father was resting from a long day at work. They would think she was sleeping.

Sakura walked around mostly unnoticed. She saw children playing, families dining and girls buying things from the stalls. Ignoring this, she went on a quitter less crowded road and took a long walk letting air pass through her hair. Lost in thought she failed to notice that it was 11 in the night and she had travelled even more far away from the main road then she had wanted. The road was completely deserted now and Sakura looked around scared. She turned around and started walking back in the direction she came from, when suddenly she heard a leaf crunch at her back.

Her heart leapt out of her throat and turned around. It was nothing, just the wind. Feeling Goosebumps she sighed in relief.

But her relieve was short lived cause as she turned around a huge hand held her by the throat and dragged her around to the alley way just at the side. Too frightened to even notice and struggling to breath Sakura looked up to see a ugly huge man with a knife in his hand. He laughed with a sickened voice and said "Oh, I got a good one today. A pink haired little girl, who knows what the poachers will pay for you. The gate to my freedom is just a few meters away sweetie." Sakura felt petrified, her father and Osha didn't even know she was out. All they know was that she was sleeping in her bedroom. Sakura felt tears at the corners of her eyes, how stupid and naive of her. She struggled to get away and felt for her nonexistent chakra reserves but the man was just too strong.

"Feisty little thing aren't you?" He said in his sickening voice. She could feel her head against the wall in the dark alleyway and she was struggling to breath. As a last resort, she bit into his thumb as hard as she could and he released a hiss and a some blood oozed out.

"You little bitch, you won't stay quite will you." She saw the chance and screamed at the top of her lungs but before even a second he held her mouth by his smelly large hand. He held a knife at her throat and she saw anger in his eyes. "You pull that off again and you won't have tongue left to scream." She felt horror, she was doomed noone was gonna come for her now, by the time someone noticed this man would be off with her. She had never felt so weak, so defense less. What a useless ninja she was, if she survived this, she vowed she would never feel so helpless like this, not ever again.

"Maybe I will give you a little scar for the way, for biting my thumb you bitch". He raised his knife to slash her on her face. Sakura closed her eyes for the impact but it never came. She opened her eyes to the man's hand being held by someone in the dark. He had let go off her in his haste and she had somehow landed on the floor. She tried to see from her tears but she heard a woman's voice who had now thrown the man at the far corner of the alley as easily as a twig. "Hunting little girls, you are at a new level of low?" she heard a sarcastic voice say.

The man got up with his bloodied head and she heard him say angrily "You will pay for that bitch". He rushed forward with his knife, it was a fairly spacious alley. The woman easily dodged it and put up a few hand signs leisurely like she was in acontest "Katun water spiral jutsu". A ball of water escaped her lips and engulfed the man who was obviously just a common thug to dodge a ninja's attack. The water surrounded him and he started to suffocate, soon enough he was lying unconscious on the street all wet.

The woman finally turned towards her for the first time and asked "Are you alright kid? I don't think that man's gonna get up anytime soon." Sakura got up on shaky legs and noticed for the first time the woman's appearance.

She had dark brown hair tied up in a letdown fashion. Her eyes were a color a lightest brown and she looked to be about in her late twenties. Overall she was pretty indeed and she was dressed in a Maroon kimono.

"What are you doing here at this time of the night anyways kid, you were lucky I was returning from an old friend's party and heard that little bit of scream you managed to pull off. It got late and I tend to take this road cause it's a shortcut. If i hadn't come you would be dead meat by now." she said with a amused expression on her face. Well that explains the kimono thought Sakura.

The woman looked light hearted. "I-I just came for a walk to clear my head and wandered too far off the main road cause I wanted a less crowded street. I didn't notice the time." Sakura managed after a while wiping her face clean from tears but they didn't seem to stop.

"Be careful next time. This road is not safe for someone like you." Suddenly noticing something she started again with a surprised expression on her face. "Are you a kunoichi? You do seem to have a ninja headband on your forehead. I am guessing it's just a souvenir you found at some shady merchant's place, most girls like wearing it if they get their hands on it. You seem like a civilian to me".

Sakura felt a little angry at that comment. She was a graduated genin if nothing else but the anger died down as soon as it had came. What was to be angry about anyway? She was as useless as a civilian in fighting as this woman had seen earlier. He wasn't even a ninja and she had been as helpless as a little puppy. This woman had taken that man out in 60 seconds flat.

Yet she said "No it's not a souvenir , I am a genin. I graduated just a month ago" Sakura said in a small weak voice obviously embarrassed about it.

"Oh, in that case then you seriously need some training. Being a ninja isn't a game". She said in a firm voice. You have no idea, Sakura thought sadly. The woman noticed this and continued " I am gonna submit this goon to the jail, I will leave you to your home safely." Sakura agreed silently and started following the woman silently watching in amazement as the man's unconscious body automatically followed them in a water bubble with just one hand sign.

Curious as to who this woman was Sakura started "I am sorry, if you don't mind me asking. Who are you?" The woman smirked and looked at her "Well, I am a kunoichi of course. About Jonin level" Well that's kind of obvious though Sakura and she had a feeling that this woman was more then likely on par and more then a jonin of a leaf village. "I am here in leaf village for a few weeks for some work" The woman continued.

This sparked curiosity in Sakura and before she could stop herself she said " Can you help me train please, I am weak and pathetic and I have a goal but I just can't ever catch up to my teammates and my sensei is biased"? Sakura went off to a rant and when she stopped herself she looked down in embarrassment. The woman looked to her with a surprised expression then it changed to a amused one like she was relieving some old memory. The woman didn't reply and Sakura looked ahead in disappointment taking it as a no.

The rest of the walk was in silence and soon she saw her house with all lights turned off. She started to pump her feet with chakra to jump up on the low window and turned around to Thank the woman who had saved her life but she heard a question. "What's your name girl?" Surprised she felt ashamed she hadn't even given her name. "Sakura, it's Sakura Haruno. Thank you so much for saving my life" Sakura said with a polite bow but before she could jump she heard a voice say " Well, Sakura Haruno. If you truly want to train, meet me at the abandoned training ground 4 tomorrow at 6 am sharp. Don't be late."

Surprised and happy beyond words, she turned around to say Thank you or to ask this mysterious woman's name once again but she was already gone in a beautiful whirlwind of bubbles. Jumping up to her room's window and changing her sweaty clothes and smelly clothes. She went to bed with a excitement and a smile on her lips. All will be reveled tomorrow she guessed. Maybe this woman will be her greatest teacher or maybe not, but something is better than nothing She finally did find someone to train her and more importantly she was closer to her mom, it was hardly a credible step she knew. It was hardly a step at all but she knew that slow and steady wins the race. Maybe things weren't so bad after all!

**Guys please review and favorite it. It means a lot, otherwise it feels like I am writing for bricks here and it encourages me. Sorry for the slightly late update and don't worry, all questions will be answered, there are no loop holes. This is mostly a planned story. Don't forget to review or point out anything you don't like!**


	4. A Chance

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Chapter 4: A chance**

Sakura had woken up the next day at 5 in the morning just to be sure she wasn't late. She had taken a shower, dressed up in her ninja gear and eaten some leftovers from last night as breakfast. She had left a note on the table for early training session. Her training with team 7 was at 10 and Kakashi mostly showed up 2 hours later which means she had till 12. Needless to say it was a lot of time.

The walk was short and soon she was standing in a pretty much abandoned empty training ground 3. She was sure it was 5 minutes before 6 but she couldn't see anyone on the field. Thinking for a second that woman stood up to her, she wiped that thought pretty quickly. She had to be optimistic about it, lost in thought looking around in the ground. She heard a voice say from a some trees in the corner of the ground.

"You didn't even bother checking if there was a foreign chakra on the field did you pinkie? We have loads of work to do."

Alarmed she turned to the sound of the voice and saw that woman was right in front of her. She fell on her butt from the surprise of her speed.

"Clumsy aren't we? Not a morning person, well if you wish to train. Get used to it. Now where's my manners. Let's see, my name is Amelia and I am from the village hidden in the mist. Turns out I am stuck here in leaf for a couple of weeks because of a mission so take advantage of it while you can because you need all the help you can get. That's all you need to know"

The word mist rang bells of alarm in Sakura's mind and she was immediately tempted to ask about her mother from Amelia. Her mother was a famous kunoichi right? She would know about it surely, at least something about it but before she could open her mouth, she heard a voice inside her.

_'What the hell do you think you're doing?' Startled at first, she steadied herself after a moment._

_ 'Inner is that you, I haven't seen you in a while. Where have you been?_

_'Let's just say that I was gone for a vacation while you sulked about your mother, anyways are you stupid enough to ask her about your mother. Don't you remember what the hokage said, she could be a spy for all we know'._

_Now that she thought about it, her inner who had mysteriously disappeared and suddenly appeared was somehow right. Crushing her thoughts about her mother, she went back to a simple introduction_.

_'Hmm, maybe your right. Where were you anyways, it's like you disappeared for a time._

_'Never mind, you don't wanna keep your teacher waiting. See ya'_

_'You're in my mind, where do you think you can go?_

_'Things have changed slightly, you will see' _

And just like that her inner vanished into the dark corners of her mind and there was silence in her head one again. Even more creeped out then before, what the hell did that even mean and how could her inner mind just vanish, it was like she had gone and Sakura and totally forgotten about her, Shaking her head she looked at the newly named Amelia getting off the ground.

"I am Sakura haruno and I want to become stronger for a personal goal of mine and to never feel dependent on someone again. I became a genin a month ago," A simple introduction was enough which showed she was serious. Amelia raised her eyebrow on the first part then continued:

"Well, I told you I would train you cause you remind me of myself at your age. Well I was prettier but pretty much as helpless. Your determined, I will give you that but if you don't stand up to my standards, just know you will be dropped off as my student just as easily as you were picked . I got some free time as I am stuck here for a while, your lucky stars in shape kid." Amelia said with a smirk as a angry look quickly passed on Sakura's face.

"I will. Sakura said enthusiastically. Spy or not, she was training her and that was all that matters, knowing whether she was one or not was not a genin's work anyway. Her goal was to find her mother and that wouldn't happen if she was a handicap to herself and her team.

"Very well Haruno, let's start right now with your bony little physique. 70 laps around the village and 700 pushups." Sakura was surprised and appalled and knew it was impossible to even do that on the first day, her body was not qualified for this kind of stress. "What are you waiting for pinkie, do you want to train or not?" she heard Amelia's commanding voice.

Getting up and getting into a jog, Sakura regretted for a moment of what she had gotten herself into thinking of the hard work but quickly brushed the thought away after thinking of the fruitful results it would bring. With that she went off for her training in hell!

Approximately three weeks had passed since she had started her training with Amelia. She had a hard time at first coping with Amelia's hard learned lessons and then showing up at team practice but now she had gotten used to it more or less.

In the first week she had shown up back at her house drained of chakra and so tired that she had fallen asleep on the dining table. Her father was growing more worried about her but she didn't exactly tell him the whole truth. She had started to avoid her father but now they were getting back their relationship piece by piece.

Osha never really gave her a reason to hate her and she continued taking care of her. Sakura didn't rely on her as much as she used to and Osha didn't like speaking in-between Sakura and her father ever since the truth came out. Sakura didn't mind but she was having a hard time not knowing the opinion of the woman who she once called a mother.

Her training had taken leaps since she started training with Amelia. Sakura looked in th e mirror as she got ready in the early morning. Her body looked more ninja like, there was actually muscle on her bones now.

Well she had promised Amelia to make her hairstyle more practical. Looking at her hair sadly thinking of the time she had grown it out to be with Sasuke forever. Osha came upstairs with a pair of scissors, she had asked her to cut them with a excuse that she didn't like long hair anymore and they were too much of a hassle.

Osha smiled at her sadly and began the work on her hair. Sakura had a sad expression as soon the room was covered in silky cherry colored hair falling of her head like it was a spring morning.

Sakura started walking to training ground seven. Today Amelia had some work around the village and she had said she won't be available to train her. Sakura had gotten some rest but she had still woke up at 5:30 due to her body being used to her routine. She had cleaned her room, talked to her father for a change and did some random work around the house to pass the time.

Amelia had tested her chakra nature in the second week of training which turned out to be water. From taking jogs around the village to doing pushups under a enormous rock literally. Her taijutsu style had improved drastically and her speed was great. It was not as great as Sasuke and she didn't have Naruto's huge chakra reserves but she had improved and even kakashi seemed surprised in training when she had beaten Naruto in spar because he was taking her lightly. Amelia had taught her a unique style called dance of the mist which she had yet to test.

But her greatest devolvement was in the ninjutsu department. After finding out her chakra nature was water, Amelia had no problem teaching her a array of jutsus because luckily Amelia's nature consisted of water and earth. Because of advanced rank, she could command three to four nature chakras but the strongest of them were of her original natures water and earth.

Starting out for with basic water jutsus, she had even taught Sakura some B ranked jutsu which were mostly performed by chunins. It had taken some time because of her low chakra reserves which had increased slightly. Her stamina however was very good due to those laps around the village which had left her with such cramps in the start that she couldn't sleep. But due to her almost perfect chakra control, which even Amelia had complimented. It wasn't so hard to learn the jutsus after some practice but some of them still needed some practice so they don't fail in a battle.

Amelia had remarked that she should be able to master genjutsu rather easily due of her chakra control but she had taught Sakura none of it.

Before she knew it Sakura reached the training ground and was surprised to see Kakashi present with Sasuke and Naruto. He usually showed up two hours late.

"Ah, Sakura we were waiting for you, now that everyone's here I would like to announce something. Today we won't be doing the usual D ranked missions." Naruto looked excited as ever and could barely hold it in, even Sasuke looked interested.

"Really, datte bayo. Finally someone sees my talent".

"Dobe" sasuke said.

"Shutup teme, don't tell me you aren't bored of these stupid cat catching missions. I am sick of them".

"Hn, whatever" Sasuke replied with a smirk obviously happy.

"Don't overdo it guys. It's a simple C rank mission of escorting a client. We are to leave right now, pack up. You got a hour, meet me the gate."

"Wait, where are we escorting the client? Sakura asked while Naruto and sasuke halted.

"Nowhere too far, just the village of mist" Kakashi replied.

Sakura froze for a second and kakashi noticed this with a raised eyebrow. But she quickly turned away without a word and left for her house while leaving her team with puzzled expressions.

"What's wrong with Sakura chan? Said Naruto to no one in particular.

Kakashi watched her go and wondered just the same.

**Such a early update, I know. I had some free time. Please guys review it so at least I know how I am doing cause it's my first time. I need the motivation to continue cause I take out a lot of time just to write this story even when my preps are coming up. I don't wanna leave it hanging. I want to wrap up the pre chunin moments as quick as I can cause they are boring to write and the future is much more interesting. Plus I am sure no one wants to know again and again what happened in the past, so don't forget to rate, review and favourite.**


	5. Chapter 5

Author's note:

OK guys, I know I haven't updated for a long time but I had my exams. Anyways, I wanna ask if you guys want me to skip the chunin arc and do a time skip or just go along with writing it. Cause I got lots and lots of ideas for this story and the chunin arc is just gonna take a lot of time, and most people don't like reading things they have already seen before. So let me know your opinions. And as far as the pairing is concerned, I am a not really into any pairing. The only one I think I like is SasuNaru. I got my reasons to like it, but if you guys don't want it then I won't add it in this story, I will just write another fanfiction for it. So let me know your whole opinion on that as well.

Thanks, I will update as soon as I get some replies for my questions! Productive answers are always appreciated!


	6. Surprise!

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

**Chapter 5: Surprise!**

Sakura woke up with her head pounding like a alarm clock. As she opened her eyes to check her surrounding, she noticed she was tucked in a cozy little blanket in the middle of a small room. Further investigation of her surrounding found Naruto asleep in one corner of the room.

'Naruto?!'she called with a weak voice.

Her voice was all it took for Naruto to be at her side, sleep forgotten.

'Sakura chan, you are finally awake. I was so worried. How are you feeling? What happened?'

Naruto bombarded her with questions but Sakura couldn't think straight with her headache.

'Slow down Naruto, all I remember is that we got that old man Tazuna as the client. And after that we encountered two ninjas but I don't remember us fighting at all.'

Naruto fidgeted nervously and scratched the back of his head. 'Well, you see Sakura chan, I don't really know all the stuff myself. I kind of froze myself on the battlefield, instead of helping the teme.' Naruto said with a shamed look on his face.

'Give yourself some credit Naruto, it was your first fight. Most ninjas faint at their first battle, some run away. The least you did was froze, look at me. I don't even remember what happened'. Sakura said with a small smile, she coudn't help comforting Naruto. He looked like a lost puppy.

Naruto looked at her with surprise evident on her face and gave her a big warm smile. He must have thought I would give him a punch to his head, thought Sakura. And if this happened just awhile ago, she probably would have but, the world had made her get her priorities straight.

There was no use of pinning around people(and by people she meant Sasuke) who just didn't wanted to be around her. Naruto was always warm and friendly to her, friends and comrades were important, and she was a monster to Naruto. She treated him badly because others in the village did. 'How childish ', Sakura thought. She had learned to go with doing the right thing cause majority was not always right.

'Well, where exactly are Kakashi-sensei and Sauske?'

'Oh, sensei took teme out for some training. They will come back in awhile' Naruto said, back in his usual mood.

'Well you didn't go?'

'No, I-I just thought I would stay here so you wouldn't get confused if you woke up.'Naruto answered obiously embarrassed.

That made Sakura's resolve to treat Naruto even stronger, realizing how much he loved training and how much it meant for him to stay back.

'Wait, how long have I been out'? Sakura asked in shock.

"Two days" Both Naruto and Sakura turned to the source of the answer and saw Kakashi entering the room with Sasuke behind his back with his usual stubborn expression.

'What, someone seriously needs to tell me what happened?' Sakura asked panicking, getting out of her futon.

'Well, kakashi said taking a seat. 'After we encountered Zabuza,along the way he mentioned something after seeing you.' Kakashi said looking uncomfortable.

Sakura vaguely remembered that the masked ninja they had seen was named Zabuza and apparently he had known Kakashi but she didn't remember him mentioning her.

'Well, what did He say'? Sakura asked, obviously at unease. Even Sasuke's expression looked a little different from his position on the counch in the corner of the room

'He said that he didn't know that someone from Kurihime's bloodline was still alive' Kakashi said, his eye alert, looking for Sakura's expressions like a eagle looks for a prey. 'You lost control after that Sakura, you didn't listen to my instruction to stay back, and attacked him.' Kakashi said carefully.

Sakura was shocked beyond words. Everything was coming back to her now, but there was something missing.

'What aren't you telling me?' Sakura said, with her voice louder and more emotional then what she would have liked.

'Well, Kakashi said his expression kept neutral. 'You seemed to have activated some sort of family technique and you blacked out from the exhaustion'.

From the corner of her eye , she could see Naruto ready to provide her comfort but she didn't care. Before anyone could even see what was happening, Sakura rushed out from the room, from the house into the surrounding forest. She could hear Naruto and Kakashi calling after her, but she didn't care. All she needed was some time alone to figure out some things, she didn't know that someone who knew her mother was still alive, this opened way to many things she hadn't thought off.

**Sorry guys for leaving it at a cliffhanger but the story is gonna get interesting and this is all I could come up with now. Review and rate please, and ask away any questions and or suggestions! Plus I know not much happened in this chapter but I think Sakura's personality change towards Naruto is important, cause I like them both being good friends!**

'


	7. The beginnning

**Chapter 4**

**The beginning.**

**Lady calculus: I have uploaded the chapter again, I don't know what happened last time. Must have been the site.**

**Bloodyfang: Don't woory,their are gonna be plenty of Sakura fights in the future so even if I skip this one,she's gonna have lots of opponents now. **

**Everyone else who reviewed, Thanks a alot for the positive praise.**

Wind flew past her hair as she thought of the recent events. Right now she felt hollow, she hadn't expected that masked ninja know about her mother. Two weeks had passed since her recent tantrum. Apparently she had exploded that Zabuza ninja after activating kekkai genkai, if you could call it that. She wasn't even sure what she had done, cause she had blacked out.

So weak.

She heard a voice from inside her, that brought tears but she didn't let them flow. Not now. She had killed the only ninja who could have possibly told her about her mother.

It's not like she could go back to Mist to investigate. She was a genin, she wouldn't be allowed outside the village without her sensei. And it's not like she knew the old hokage personally like Naruto.

They had returned to the village after seeing the bridge build. After Zabuza had been eliminated, all that short businessman had were weak mercenaries, who Naruto had taken out personally. Thus naming the bridge, 'The Naruto Bridge'.

The man had been taken care by Kakashi who had 'supposedly' talked him out of his evil ways.

Sakura scoffed at the thought, it was kinda obvious he had killed him. Sasuke and her had figured out quite quickly but Naruto seemed confused and apparently accepted the story.

He maybe strong but he was still a knucklehead.

Sakura sighed and got out of her comfy bed in her room, which she hadn't slept in for quite a while because of that mission. Her mysterious sensei from Mist had gone missing when she came back, much to her disappointment.

She had wanted to ask around but her team didn't know anything about her. and the Hokage was really busy, recently though due to some event.

She had better taijutsu, actually a lot better but she had wanted to learn some ninjustsu from her teacher but she was gone, with no apparent evidence of coming back.

All she had learned now was a C ranked Earth jutsu that could trap her opponents feet by simply manipulating the ground beneath their feet by pumping earth chakra in it. As her chakra was earth type. Apparently she also had a better affinity to water because the water had gotten a little soggy before being grounded away indicating the element earth. She had learned to make earth clones as well which took less chakra then shadow clones and didn't have a mind of their own, but they had a much better pro, which she had yet to test out.

Sakura showered, took a quick breakfast from Osha and went on her way to team training. She knew was a hour late but it's not like Kakashi sensei was gonna show up until 10.

'Man, I can't believe even Sakura chan didn't show up today' Naruto said to Sasuke who was resting in the shade of a tree.

'Hn'. replied Sasuke, not giving much attention.

'I swear teme, is that all you can say'.

'Hn'. Naruto looked about to attack Sasuke but that's when Sakura arrived and said a quick Good morning.

'Sakura-chan, your late'. Naruto cried out.

Sakura gave him a small apology and sat down,far from Sasuke. Which confused Naruto and Sasuke both but Sasuke didn't show it.

Finally Kakashi Sensei arrived muttering some excuse. Naruto replied angrily but Sakura didn't care. Kakashi had been weary around her since Mist, he had at one point even singled her out and ask about her mysterious 'bang'. She had refused to reply, if the hokage said their was noone she could trust, certainly meant no one. He had threatened to go to the Hokage, but Sakura had just given him a perky smile and told him to be her guest. That had sure as hell confused him.

'Well, let's just spar in two team cells. Naruto your with me, Sakura and Sasuke, you are against each other'. Kakashi announced.

Sasuke looked angry, obviously thinking himself too superior to fight a weakling like her. This angered Sakura.

'Can't you put someone else against her, I would much rather spar against either of you two instead of wasting my time with her' Sasuke said in his monotous tone to Sasuke, completely ignoring her.

'Now now Sasuke,team work is important. She is part of our team, even if she tends to stay er, at the sidelines.' Kakashi replied. Sakura was beyond angry, she always knew kakashi was biased, but this was a blatant insult. Naruto came to her defense from Sasuke, but went to another clearing to spar with Kakashi excited.

Sasuke turned to her, and gave her a boring look. 'Look, it's not like you can fight me, so I am just gonna do some kunai practice instead of wastin-

He was cut of by a chakra infused punch to the face, sending him flying back to the clearing. Caught on by surprise, he obviously wasn't expecting that. Even Sakura was surprised by her action, but she had had enough of his looking down on her. There had been a cracking sound as she had obviously obviously broke his nose. Sasuke for the first time had emotions on his face, he looked surprised and beyond angry. Before he could speak or even get up, Sakura said.

'You talk too much'. That was all it took before he lashed at her at a unbelievably fast speed, fully intent on bashing her face, but she be damned if she didn't put a hell of a fight.

-TS-TS-TS-TS

Kakashi had been in the middle of dispelling another one of Naruto's clone when he heard a crack from where Sasuke and Sakura were sparring. Even the real Naruto showed up in time to see a figure, he could make out as Sasuke flying in the plain to the back and Sakura standing her ground.

'Whoa, teme must have really pissed Sakura chan off, I thought she loved Sasuke'. Naruto said in a surprised tone. Even Kakashi's only visible eye narrowed.

THeir was no way Sakura did that, when he had received his team's file, he had seen he had gotten two very special students and one normal one. She was enlisted as a Sasuke fan girl, belonged to a normal family etec etc. But things had gotten weird after he had seen her eyes in Mist, he hadn't yet asked the hokage as he was busy planning the chunin exams. And now she had managed a hit on Sasuke.

'Maybe, I was never meant to tutor regular students'. Kakashi thought with a sigh as he continued reading his orange book.

**Author's Note: **

**Really late update, I know but next chapter is coming in a day at most. Keep the reviews coming guys, I appreciate them. I know I have portrayed Kakashi as a villain, but according to me he certainly is or was. He favored Sasuke in everything, he taught him the chidori, he taught Naruto the wind rasengan but he has taught about nothing to Sakura. It's like she was invisible to him so yeah.**


	8. First Step

**Chapter 4**

**First Step.**

Sakura quietly ate dango as she sat in a corner of the small shop, shrouded by shade as the sun had set. Kakashi had dropped the news of chunin exams on them and had told them, it was their choice as a team, whether or not to participate.

Apart from that her spar with Sasuke had not gone so well. Although she had improved a lot,their was still time before she was near Naruto or Sasuke's level. She had searched every possible location for her perky mist sensei but there was no clue of her. Disappointment arose in Sakura's chest.

Flashback:

Sasuke rushed at her at a terribly fast speed and hit her square in the stomach, but Sakura had already replaced herself with a substitution technique. Searching for her, Sasuke turned around, looking scary as ever as blood dripped from his broken nose.

Sensing chakra from behind a bush, Sasuke launched a fireball. Unfortunately Sakura got scathed but got away but in that time.

Sakura masked her chakra, which was relatively easy for her considering her chakra control. She hid at a spot not far from Sasuke and released chakra into the earth to activate her Ground control jutsu. Unfortunately it meant that she had to give away her position.

Sasuke quickly unleashed another fireball at her position and Sakura got burned as she was too submerged in her jutsu. She saw Sasuke smirk a little as he quickly followed up the fireball to rush at her to engage and finish the battle by taijutsu.

The Smirk was soon gone when Sakura watched with satisfaction as he found himself unable to move. The burns she had gotten were not for nothing, Sasuke looked down in confusion to see his feet embedded in the earth. He looked up in confusion but even a small gap in a battle could turn it against you, and Sakura showed him how.

Pumping chakra to her feet she rushed to Sasuke's position as her skin ached with the burns that she knew she would pay for later but she didn't care. She had had enough of Sasuke's whining.

Putting extra chakra in her foot as she approached Sasuke's position, she kicked him in his ribs before he could even take out a kunai, using his surprise to her advantage. Sasuke skidded away into the clearing, rolling on the ground and then lost his consciousness.

End Flashback

Thinking back to that Sakura mentally chided Sasuke. He probably would have won from her if he hadn't underestimated her. That had earned him a free trip to the hospital, he had gotten a huge bandage on his nose but luckily for him, it wasn't permanently broken. And a bruised rib which was gonna take some time to heal, this altered his training and he was furious. As for her, she gotten some minor burns on her arms and some pretty bad one on her legs which were healed but still hurt. But they were gonna take a three days at most to heal, plus she had enough strength to carry herself to the hospital unlike Sasuke. Kakashi had given them both a long lecture on how spars were not meant to 'kill each other' but to increase team work, even Naruto seemed surprised about what she had done to Sasuke. Hell she was surprised herself, but every person has a breaking point and she had hit hers.

Getting up from her table she gave money for her dango, which was slowly becoming her favorite food and left to join the hustle and bustle on Konoha streets.

Sakura was going back to her house when she sensed a familiar chakra, as Sakura neared a more secluded area, Sasuke made himself show.

'What do you want Sasuke'? Sakura asked without turning around.

They hadn't talked since their spar and Sakura didn't really see a reason why they had too. She turned around and saw that he still had a bandage around his nose but his ribs looked somewhat healed.

'We need to talk' Sasuke said, his arrogant voice back.

'Then talk' Sakura simply said with a neutral expression.

'What was that' HE demanded.

Although he made no indication of what he was saying, Sakura knew he was talking about their spar.

'What was what Sasuke, We were supposed to spar and we did. Not my fault you were too weak to block any real damage' Sakura said, putting extra spice in her voice. She saw a surprised look pass on Sasuke's face but she had wanted to hurt him, like he had hurt her countless times now. Must have expected me to apologize to him, Sakura thought.

'As if, I know this bravado is just another way to attract my attention. It won't work you know, better go back to your old self.' Sasuke said in a tone like he was sure that was the case.

Sakura felt anger course through her and she was ready for a verbal assault but she realized that she didn't really care what he thought.

Sakura sighed' Look Sasuke, no matter how much you want otherwise, the world doesn't revolve around you. So if you don't have anything else to say then to make stupid assumptions, then excuse me cause I have got better things to do then to be your frustration vent'. A brief looko surprise was on his face and sakura started to walk away but halfway through, she said

'If you want to pass the chunin exams, it's better if you come out of your childish fantasies and start working as a team with Naruto and me. It's better for both of us, and if you can't, then don't get in my way'.

Sakura left Sasuke stunned as she walked away satisfied because this clearly needed to be said to make Sasuke's head straight.

-SC-SC_-SC-SC

All the jounins were gathered to give names for their genins. Kakashi watched as all his fellow jounin including Asuma, Kurenai and Gai give names for their students. The Hokage accepted all of them and finally it was his turn. He followed suit and everyone in the room was surprised at the number of rookies this year at the chunin exams but all of them knew otherwise.

This year was different. Almost all the graduates were heirs to Konoha's most prestigious clans. Special attention was given to the graduates of this year, even their sensei's were specifically chosen. The best of the best.

From the Hyuga clan heiress, to the last surviving Uchiha. The extra ordinary trio of the yamanaka, akimichi and Nara clans were their too and Kakashi knew it was no coincidence that the yamanaka heiress and the two male heirs were put on the same team, just like their fathers.

As the room started to clear, only the sensei for the rookie nine were left and after the Hokage ensured personally that the students were in fact ready, everyone left except Kakashi and the hokage.

'Is there something bothering you Kakashi?' The old man sai.

Kakashi thought about it for a second and then begin 'Yes I have been wanting to talk to you for awhile but you have been busy Hokage sama'.

'Yes, that I have been. Speak away kakashi.'

'Hokage-Sama, err, when I was put in charge of my team, I don't think I was given sufficient information on Sakura Haruno.' Kakashi watched the Hokage expression but it remained neutral.

'What seems to be the matter?'

Kakashi told the Hokage everything, from Mist to her blasting a jounin like zabuza by activating her weird eye thing and then fainting, to her injuring Sasuke severely during their training a week ago.

'Hmm, seems like her bloodline is developing sooner than expected' The Hokage said in an impassive voice.

Kakashi's visible eye widened. 'What, all her records point towards a normal civilian background' Kakashi said in surprise evident in his voice.

The Hokage chuckled 'There is much you don't know but could have found out if you had truly paid attention to anyone of your students except the Uchiha' Kakashi felt a pang. The hokage had hit the arrow right where it was meant to hit.

'Favoritism never brings fruit Kakashi' The Hokage said in a bitter voice, like he was remembering a old story in which he had conducted the same thing.

Before he could say anything, the Hokage continued, 'Due to this, I can not disclose Sakura's details to you. Only Time will tell you, but make sure of one thing. That she doesn't get close to any Mist ninja.' The Hokage said with a finished tone.

'Yes Hokage Sama' Kakashi said resigned and left. He felt like he had failed the jounin exam of tutoring three students but he now he knew the future was not going to be easy.

**Extra long chapter because of all the encouraging reviews. Keep reviewing guys, it helps me update sooner and encourages me to write longer chapters.**


	9. The Chunin Exams

**Chapter 8**

**The Chunin Exams**

Sakura was on her way to meet her two team mates at the barbeque restaurant. They were gathering there to discuss if they were indeed ready for the chunin exam or not. Amelia was still missing and she felt so helpless that to not even have a clue where she went.

Stepping in the small but comfy hotel, the smell of delicious meat met her nose and she turned around and found her team mates in a table in the corner. The shop seemed to be pretty busy with most of the tables set.

Sakura hurried their and sat down next to Naruto. Without any further greeting, she got straight to the point.

'Okay, Kakashi already gave our names and it's up to us to decide whether or not we are to participate or not. If one of us refuses, none of us can participate unless they find a third willing member. So there is no way I am backing out. What about you guys?'

Sakura knew that this meeting was probably just a way to make things final. NAruto would never back out of the exams and Sasuke so hell bent on power would never refuse. It was up to her, and if it was her old self, she probably would have just given up scared.

'Haha, no way am I backing out. I am gonna kick everyone's ass and become a chunin believe it' Naruto's expected reply came with a his usual grin.

'Hn, same goes for me'. Sasuke said looking down at the table, irked att Naruto's outburst but he didn't say anything.

'Ok then, I guess it's official. Since that's out of the way, I better go. I have got something to do.' Sakura said and was about to hurry of when Naruto stopped her.

'Wait Sakura-chan. I ordered ribs and you can't just leave me with this brooding teme.' Naruto said with a puppy dog face.

Sakura 's resolve fell. Hell, it's not like they went out for team gatherings often, she could train later. Even Sasuke looked like at her, expecting her to stay not wanting to stay alone with Naruto.

'Ok Naruto, if you say so. Besides I am starving.' Sakura replied with a genuine smile.

As they sat there in the crowded restaurant waiting for their food. Naruto and Sakura chatted away, and even Sasuke joined in for his little snippets of opinion, his mood a notch down from the snobbish brat child. Devouring her food cause she hadn't had breakfast, Sakura watched as her team mates bickered with each other and thought that maybe things weren't so bad after all.

-SC-SC-SC-SC

After saying good bye to her team mates, Sakura was on her way to the training ground. She was in a fairly good mood after a long time and she felt happy. It was still 8:00 and she could put a couple hours in training before it got late and she had to head home.

As she reached the ground and readied her stance to test her taijutu, Sakura immediately detected a presence in the trees behind her thanks to her heightened senses. She felt her heart beat fastening up and turned around in a blur.

'No point in hiding, I know your there.' Sakura shouted out, going for the bold approach. It was better knowing atleat who was hiding out.

After a few seconds a cloaked figure jumped in the clearing a few feet from her. She couldn't see his or her face. 'What do you want' Sakura asked.

The figure instead of replying attempted to rush at her to attack but found themselves unable to move.

Sakura smirked in her mind. 'Idiot, the only reason I asked him the question was to give myself time to activate the earth jutsu' Sakura thought.

_Wow, you have gotten smarter, a voice inside her head said._

_Inner?_

_Who else?_

_What's up with you nowadays, appearing in my mind for a day or two and disappearing for weeks._

_As if, I was in your big forehead, not like I can go many places stuck in your big head, came inner's smug reply. I just tend to stay quite sometimes._

_Whatever inner, I have a guy to fight._

Wasting no time, Sakura rushed forward chakra focused in her right hand, she punched the person right on the face. As she was beginning to smirk, Sakura watched as the figure dissolved into nothing but water.

'What the, a water clone-

Sakura was cut off as she felt a presence behind her accompanied by a familiar voice.

'You have improved kiddo'.

Sakura turned around in an instant and came face to face with amelia, her brown hair hard to miss by. Sakura found herself smiling despite having an almost hear attack. Sakura felt more happy then she had felt in the whole week. But that doesn't mean she couldn't shout.

'What the hell Sensei, you gave me a heart attack. I thought I was being ambushed, what's up with the dramatic entrance.' Sakura said with a smile visible on her face, and she knew amelia knew her words were just hollow of any real anger.

'Quite down kid. I wanted to see if you had been slacking off behind my back, looks like you have been practicing on your own but your still lacking, you should have able to tell a clone from the original.' Amelia replied with a smirk.

'I was too busy thinking of what to do, besides water clones are the hardest to detect. You know that.'

'Hm, maybe'

Sakura saw that Amelia had let her hood slip off. Now she was in the cloak she had seen before but now her head was visible.

'But anyways where have you been, you know I thought you abandoned me. I was worried-

Before she could finish Amelia spoke, ' Village business, since you had that stupid C ranked mission which I assumed went well since you are here alive, I thought I might get things done since I got a message from Mist to do some things over in Stone.'

'Whatever, a message would have been nice' sakura replied.

'Well I am here now' Before Sakura could tell her about the chunin exams, she continued. ' I know the chunin exams are about to start, and I know you are participating, so I am gonna teach you a trick or two since there's only a week left but you gotta work really hard if you wanna learn something worthwhile in this week.

All past questions and doubts were erased from Sakura's mind. Now that Amelia was back she finally found herself to be happy. There was a chance now that she would become chunin. She found a uncontrollable smile on her lips. Forming a salute sign she replied:

'Yes sensei'.

'Good, meet me here at 6 and no breakfast till I say so'

Not even caring about breakfast, sakura just nodded content. After her first civil get together with her team where they clearly enjoyed each other's company as a team and now meeting her sensei. Today might just have been a really good day after her crappy week.

-SC-SC-SC-SC

Unknown to them, Kakashi stood watching the reunion in the trees. The mysterious kunoichi he had never seen in the village before was clearly from Mist. She had mentioned it herself. He knew there was no way Sakura got so much better herself without any outside help. Now that he knew that the kunoichi was from Mist, he couldn't let her see Sakura because those were the Hokage's orders: To keep her away from any Mist ninja.

**Ok guys, review and feel free to tell me what's going for you and what's not. And if anyone's confused then the sentences in commas are dialogues and the one in italic writing is Sakura and her inner. And might be some Kakashi insult because I clearly don't like him. He's always like: Hey Sasuke, you are the best and I am gonna teach you the bad ass move chidori and then let you betray the village and to Naruto: Hey Naruto I wanna teach you this cool new wind jutsu. And when it comes to Sakura he's like: Sakura? Are you on my team too? So yeah! And special thanks to angel 897. I like your reviews and I like how you review every chapter stating what you liked and what you didn't like, so keep them coming.**


	10. Goodbye Sensei

**Chapter 9**

**Goodbye Sensei**

**A/N: Manduderaw: Thanks but I haven't planned any pairing for the story. Not yet anyway so maybe.**

**Ladycalus: I uploaded the same chapter again because I needed to fix a few grammatical mistakes.**

**Spiritwolf35: It's good that you liked the idea of the story but Sakura is the main character here. That is the main point of the story. Besides anyone in the anime whose name is not Naruto or Sasuke seems to get sidelines out of the story. SO sorry if you don't wanna read, Naruto is the supporting character here not the other way around. We see enough of that in the series.**

It was 6 in the morning. Sakura got up and hurried to training ground 4, where she was supposed to meet Amelia. The chunin exams started the tomorrow and today was the last day she could pick up her training. It was a day off from team training in favor of Kakashi giving them there final day for a relaxed start.

Sakura hurried into the almost empty streets. When she went to training ground 3, cause you had to pass it to get to 4 she saw Kakashi waiting for her there.

'Kakashi sensei' she said with a greeting.

'Sakura, where are you off to so early?'

'I am going for some solo training.' Sakura lied, she was a fairly good liar and she didn't want Kakashi to know about Amelia.

'Ok, I will come with you to see if you have gotten any better' Kakashi said with a peculiar smile.

_He isn't buying it, came the voice of inner._

_I know but he is not coming with me._

'No thanks sensei, I would rather go alone.' Sakura replied evenly.

'Non-sense Sakura, let's go' Kakashi said smile in place.

' I said no thanks Kakashi. You haven't helped me before and I don't expect it now'. Sakura said, making sure to leave out sensei.

Kakashi's expression turned to a serious one. 'I expect you to reply with proper respect'.

Sakura smirked, making sure to irk him. ' Why, Sasuke has never called you sensei. You don't seem to mind that. Sakura said, her expression now serious.

She could see that hit the mark. 'That's enough Sakura, I know you're going to meet that Mist kunoichi and that's forbidden to you now.'

Sakura was surprised and she let it show. _How in the world did he know that?_

_I have no idea, she replied to her inner._

But soon surprise was overwritten by anger. Anger that he thought he thought he could control what she could or couldn't do.

'Yes I will, and I am going to do it now. ' she replied.

'I will put you in a genjutsu if I have to'. Kakashi said in all seriousness.

Sakura readied her stance but she knew she had no chance fighting a jounin like Kakashi. She would lose in a minute but the least she could do was put up a fight.

'Hmm, there is no point Sakura, if you want extra help I will help you out with your training'. Kakashi said non-chalantly.

_Yeah, like you helped us before you masked pervert. Chhaaaaa, pound his face in, came inner's voice._

But before either of them could do anything, a barrage of shuriken went flying towards where Kakashi was standing, Kakashi flashed out of the way to some distance away. Before Sakura could comprehend what was happening, she saw Amelia standing in front of her looking casually at Kakashi.

'Well, you must be the sensei of the team that sakura was put in. No offense but I don't think anyone can order around this brat except me' Amelia said in her casual voice.

''Hmm, she's my student and she has to obey' Kakashi said. ' And it's better if you just let her be, orders from higher above.'

'Sorry, no can't do.' Amelia replied smirking.

Kakashi looked at her once over to gauge her strength. She wasn't even trying to mask her chakra reserves so if those were to go at she was at least jonin level. Kakashi had no idea how a Mist ninja was even in Leaf village but if she was here on official business, he was no fool to start a fight with a foreign ninja. But still he could check how much of a shinobi she was.

'Ok then'. He made a couple of hand signs, ' Fire style: Fire butterfly jutsu.

Medium sized balls of fire rushed to where amelia was standing. It was a B rank jutsu and if she was jonin,she would be able to deflect it. IF not and she got injured, well it's not like he hadn't broken a few rules before, he doubted leaf would let go of the infamous copy ninja.

He watched as the balls of fire went closer. Halfway through, she made a couple of handsigns so casually like they were in a picnin comparing jutsus.

'Water style: Barrage of Water' he heard her say and a giant wall of water rushed forward completely swallowing the flames and rushing forward towards his location. 'Yup, definitely a jonin' Kakashi thought as he dodged the water wall which almost wetted the entire ground. But before any of them could exchange anymore blows, a voice was heard in the ground.

"**Enough"**

Everyone turned to see no other then the Hokage himself standing in the entrance of the ground.

Kakashi bowed his head in respect and he was surprised to see the mysterious kunoichi do the same. That meant that she was here on official business. As the hokage got near, kakashi could notice Sakura getting around from behind Amelia.

Finally as the hokage appeared right in front of Sakura and Amelia, kakashi was surprised to see him utter his next words.

'I am deeply apologetic at this, I am sure Kakashi over here meant no harm'

'Don't worry Hokage-sama, it would take more than a B-rank jutsu to even come close by to me.'

Kakashi was surprised and calm. Well at least now he knew that she wasn't a missing-nin but something about the brown hair and brown eyes rang a bell. The jutsu she used was no less than a A rank. He knew she was from mist, means she probably had a bloody childhood.

Kakashi was sure he had known someone of that description that he had seen in the bingo books. and the name-

Ofcourse, how could he not have guessed before. She was a fairly popular and equally lethal kunoichi present in the bingo books.

'My apologies- before the hokage could complete his sentence, kakashi did it for him.

'Amelia san'. he said.

This didn't surprise anyone there but Sakura who looked stunned. Of course she would be surprised., she didn't know her new teacher was in the bingo books.

'I apologize again for my irrational attack'. Kakashi said with the fakest smile he could muster.

'Well it seems that your reputation precedes you Amelia san' came the quite yet calm voice of the Hokage.

'Ofcourse,I am surprised it took me so long to recognize Amelia Stark, a feared kunoichi in the bingo books who is famous for the use of jutsus from all five chakra natures.' Kakashi said in his most unnerving voice ever. He wanted to use his knowledge of her against her, to make it seem like a edge. The effect he wanted was shown on Sakura's face which he expected because of her overload of emotions. But he knew that a shinobi from Mist are hard to crack when the reply came:

''Right back at you Sharingan Kakashi''.

Sakura wanted to know what the hell was going on here. What did Kakashi mean when he said orders from above.

'What seems to be the matter here' the hokage asked eying all of them.]

Kakashi decided to take the lead. 'Hokage sama, our honored guest here from Mist seems to be helping Sakura here with her training'. Some kind of weird recognition passed over the Hokage's face, Sakura wcould tell but it was only for a moment. There was something they didn't want her to know, she was not stupid if anything else. She was the smartest person in her academy class.

'I see, Amelia san would you please accompany me to my office for a while. There are some things regarding your mission I want to discuss.'

Sakura knew it was a lie, even if it was coming from the Hokage. There was something they were hiding. Sakura motioned forward to speak but she was surprised when Amelia stopped her, putting her hand forward. She turned around towards sakura and spoke in a low tone 'Don't worry Sakura, just practice what I taught you recently and you will do great in thee chunin exams. '

Sakura observed her expression and she knew that Amelia was not satisfied with how the proceeding was going. The tone of her voice told Sakura that she was not going to see her for a while. Before she could protest, Amelia said. 'Trust me on this'.

Sakura immediately quieted down and nodded at her. 'Ok Hokage sama, let's go' Amelia said with a serious expression. She watched with a unreadable expression as soon the hokage and her sensei disappeared from her view.

"Sakura listen.' she heard kakashi say. She had forgotten he was even here but she was in no mood to listen to him.

_That bastard, I wanna punch his face in. The guts of this guy._

Sakura turned to him with a expression that radiated that she wanted no part of him. 'Out of my way' and with that she left to go to her home with a gloomy heart but she knew that she could not be careless about the chunin exams. With that thought in mind, she went home to complete the final touches for her preparation for the chunin exams.

**Next chapter is the start of the chunin exams. I have decided to include it but the part of the matches will be longer then the forest one. I am probably gonna write a 2 to 3 thousand words chapter and wrap up most of the chunin arc in a single chapter but the part where the matches take place is gonna be really interesting to read, atleast I hope. Rate and review please!**


	11. Team Growth

**Chapter 10**

**Team Growth**

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed. And those who didn't, please do I feel like I am writing for zombies here. I have got my finals coming up so if I don't get some motivation, I doubt I will be able to update anytime soon. So rate and review, I don't mind constructive criticism.**

Today was the day. The day of the chunin exams, Sakura would be lying to herself is she said she wasn't nervous. She was, she was nervous a lot.

After her teacher had been so rudely stolen from her, she felt more nervous than ever. She knew that Amelia wasn't going to go with her in the exams but still the thought of her watching over was still appeasing. Amelia would find a way to teach her, Sakura consoled herself.

Things with her father had gotten better. They were back to the bond they shared, the speech of courage he had given her was also appreciable.

She knew her dad was not happy with her being a kunoichi but just the night before the exam, he had come to her room while she was reading a book and told her he was fully supportive of her decision to take the exams.

Sakura was surprised of course, of the sudden change of heart and she had voiced her questions but he had given a simple reply which had both warmed and saddened her heart.

'Your mother always wanted you to be kunoichi. Strong, independent and determined, and I want to abide by her wishes because that is how you will bloom'.

Sakura was reasonably happy, she knew her father had always fulfilled all her wishes as a child and now he was ready to accept her as a kunoichi. She will always appreciate that and no way was she going to let her childish phase of him lying to her to protect her, get in the way.

Taking the first step in the hall that held first part of chunin exams, she spotted Naruto. After there usual greetings and waiting some time for Sasuke, they hurried off to their respected floor.

They were met with a commotion of some sort, a ninja in a bowl cut fighting some guys.

'I request you to get out of the way of the leaf village's youth, or you will truly suffer'.

Some girl with her hair in two buns was stopping him._ That weird guy sure is over dramatic._

_Yeah but he seems kind of heart._

_Hmmm, should have cut his hair in some other style_

Ignoring her inner's superficial words, she realized something was wrong. They had only travelled two set of stairs while the exam was on the third, that meant-

Before the two boys could fight and the surrounding genin could cheer, she announced

'Give up the genjutsu, do you seriously think as that stupid'

Everyone in the room turned to look at her, especially sasuke, who had realized something was wrong but couldn't put a finger on it.

A guy with white colored eyes looked at her in calm surprise, he obviously knew and didn't think anyone else did.

'Well, well seems like the rookie is more perceptive then you idiots. Seems like we got some talent this year'

With that both the guys disappeared, releasing the genjutsu and Sakura thought that telling everyone of her observation skills and turning all attention to their teams wasn't such a bright plan.

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They entered the hall and noticed ninja from various different nations. Before Naruto could cause a commotion, she put a hand on his mouth and dragged him along. He maybe a good friend but he was still a idiot.

They spotted their fellow rookies, and immediately.

'Hey forehead, what are you doing here? I thought you were too weak to participate'.

Sakura was not in the mood for a fight.

'Hey Ino-pig, but I realized someone needed to keep a eye on you so you don't kill your team mates'

'Huh, as if. I am gonna kick your ass and Sasuke-kun's gonna be all mine.'

The rookie nine were looking at their petty fight with bored expressions, since noone seemed to have anything to do. Except Naruto and Kiba, who were in a quarrel of their own.

'Be my guest Ino-pig. Take him now for all I care, all I care about is making chunin'

_Ouch, that gotta have hurt._

Like inner said, a surprised and kind of hurt look passed over Ino's face. There fight over sasuke was not really a fight over Sasuke, it was more symbolic of their rivalry with each other and now Sakura had denied it. Even some of the rookies looked surprised, especially shikamaru and Naruto, who had expected a clash with their team mates.

With that Sakura went on to sit with Naruto and immediately sensed a evil kind of aura when a guy with glasses walked to them.

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Just before they entered the exams, Sakura stopped her team mates.

'What's wrong Sakura-chan?'Naruto asked.

'Look guys it probably sounds weird but be wary of that white haired guy with glasses.'

'Why, he seemed nice enough. Plus he also seemed to have shared his cards.'

Leave it to Naruto to paint everyone a angel. Before she could reply, Sasuke said 'Sakura's right dobe, I sensed something wrong too.'

'Fine if you guys say so, but I tell you, you're just paranoid. With that they entered the hall and Sakura felt glad that for the first time, they had reached a decision as a team.

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When she got the sheet, Sakura realized that the questions were probably too above from the genin level. Still she solved them with ease, smartest person in her graduating class.

She worried about Naruto but soon after came Ibiki's speech, and she realized that her previous assumptions were correct.

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After the students were gone and Anko had come and gone with her dramatic entrance. Ibiki analyzed the papers of the few passing students, the rest had chickned out.

Letting out a laugh at Naruto's paper, he had realized the cheating methods of most. That hyuga was using his eyes, and his teammate was using glass mirrors to aid herself and her team mate. The daughter of his work mate, inoichi had used her family's trade mark jutsu on one of the chunin he had placed in the crowd.

But surprise came when he looked at Sakura's paper. The pink haired girl looked like she was nothing special, she wasn't from any particular clan but he soon came to realize that looks were indeed deceiving when he noticed that she had answered all questions on the exam correctly without sparing a single glance to anyone in the room.

'Looks like we got extra smart graduates this year' Ibiki thought with a smirk.

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_That forest looks creepy, _was the first thing inner had muttered.

After their crazy instructor who called herself Anko had described the main point, after really scary and creepy dialogues of her own, they went in the forest of death.

They had gotten the Earth scroll, and it was safely hidden under sakura's many cloth layers. She and Sasuke had decided to take turns since Naruto was too irresponsible.

'Ok guys, first thing we need to do is find water'. she said in a low voice as they jumped from tree to tree. Both of them nodded and they started headed Northwest.

Soon they had stumbled upon a river. As they filled there bottles (which Sakura had kept in her pack just in case) she sensed a presence. A side way look to sasuke told her he had sensed it too. She signaled to Naruto, and thank kami he understood.

At first they acted oblivious and soon a barrage of Kunai went hurling towards Sakura's position. She dodged and jumped to the left, separating her from her team mates. Hmm, so this is their strategy, divide to conquer, Sakura thought.

Quickly forming a plan in her head, Sakura jumped sideways putting more distance between her and her team mates. They were too busy to notice fighting there own team mates, means one of the members from the team was onto her.

Sensing him behind a tree, Sakura devised a plan. Shunshining beside the tree, she threw few shuriken right at her opponent's head who dodged in time.

'Well, just give me the scroll little girl and no one has to get hurt.' The ninja was from the rain village, his forehead protector indicated. 'I don't want to hurt you, I repeat- that was the indication for sakura to attack. If her opponent was of a higher level, she wouldn't have dared and would have formed a better strategy.

But the fact that this guy spent more time in speaking meant he was probably a genin. The guy noticed her approaching and readied his stance but was momentarily struck when he couldn't move his feet. Amelia was right, this earth jutsu was incredible, when amelia had taught it to her, Sakura had whined saying she wanted something stronger but she quickly realized her foolishness. A jutsu is only as good as it's user.

Too busy fumbling with his feet, Sakura struck him right in the nose and let go of the earth chakra so he went flying to the ground. She shunshined in front of him, not letting him have a chance to spring back up.

Sakura grabbed a kunai from her belt and slit his throat. SLIT HIS throat. Sakura realized what she had done and quickly backed off, she had just killed a guy. But that wasn't surprising, what was more shocking was that it hadn't been all that hard. She had just thought of success and killed him, the fact it came so easy to her was the part that scared her.

Sensing Chakra and turning sideways, she noticed Sasuke and Naruto standing there looking at her with shocked expressions. They had probably finished off their fights and came looking for her, only to find her there with her hands and kunai full of blood and Sakura standing there like nothing had happened.

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They had gotten the heaven scroll. They had gotten surprisingly lucky, the team they had fought had it. And now they were heading to the middle of the forest, both Scrolls at the start of the journey but her team mates were really wary and things were awkward and she had finally had it.

'Ok, what is up with you guys, what's with the looks?'

'Uhh, Sakura chan, that guy'

'What about him Naruto, I did what I had to do'

'Welllll, you could have just knocked him out like me and teme did'

I never thought of that, Sakura thought. What is wrong with me.

'I did what I had to do Naruto, better to kill him now then to worry about him becoming a nuisance later'. Sakura said in a cold tone.

She hadn't expected it to come out like that, that inhumane but she was too confused herself to give a explanation. Ignoring surprising looks from both her team mates, she hurried forward to ignore them. Still feeling there stares at her back, she realized that the first kill for both of them will probably be a lot traumatic.

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Half way through they were interrupted. Interrupted by the same white haired guy who had come to call himself Kabuto. He had conveniently showed up in there way and had gotten close to Naruto and Sasuke easily with his slick tongue but Sakura didn't like. Not one bit, he seemed to malleable

Right now they were sitting around a snugly built fire, unfortunately Kabuto was with them.

'Well, you seem to have been lucky to get both the scrolls in such a short time.'

'Yeah, I knew it I could do it dattebayo.'

Sasuke was quite, obviously still keeping Sakura's warning in mind and Sakura appreciated it. Maybe he wasn't a total ass.

'I seem to have no such luck, one of my team mate as died and the other I have seem to lost, can I travel with you?'

Alarm bells rang in Sakura's head. She vaguely remembered Kabuto telling them he had taken the exam six or maybe seven times.

'I thought you had taken the exam for seven times already. Hard to believe you still don't know the geography of the forest to have lost your team mate.' Sakura said, speaking for the first time since they had set camp.

Kabuto looked at her and just for a second a annoyed look passed his face but it was back to his usual smile in a while. Even Naruto seemed to have considered this. 'Mistakes are only meant to be made by humans'.

'Sure, you can accompany u- ' before Naruto could complete his sentence, Sasuke interrupted him. 'We have to discuss this alone' he said in a no non-sense manner. Sakura was glad. 'Completely understandable' Kabuto said before leaving all of them alone.

They huddled together in a circle, 'What's so wrong with the idea, we get extra manpower plus he seems ok' Naruto protested.

'No'. Sakura said almost immediately.

She looked to Sasuke to support but saw him contemplating the decision. It was his vote that was the deciding power, since Naruto and her opinion had clashed. Before he could speak, he asked Sakura 'Why exactly are you so opposed to this?'

He was finally working with them as a team. That was a good start, since there 'talk' sasuke had improved even if the changes were minute enough to be unnoticeable. 'I just know this guy is not what he seems to say, I have got this sixth sense, my instincts are telling me to get far away from him as quick as possible'

Sasuke gave her a weird look, obviously Naruto's excuse held more reason then hers and she knew that Sasuke never thought of her as a good ninja, so he wasn't gonna vote based on her ninja instincts. She sighed and knew there was little hope now, she was about to turn around when Sasuke announced. 'Sorry dobe, he's not coming along.' Sakura gave him a surprised look and Sasuke gave her a look that said 'I am trusting you on this' and she nodded in return.

Naruto reluctantly agreed and after refusing Kabuto, he left but not before giving Sakura a nasty look with a sweet smile plastered with it.

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Sakura was happy. They had finally made it, after Iruka tested them whether or not they opened the scroll and congratulated each of them, they made it in the waiting area feeling dirty, not having taken a shower in two days but having high spirits. Sakura noticed they had made it quite early, they were no teams there except one. A scary one at that, especially the red haired boy who had regarded them with a cold look.

They quickly passed them and chose a different waiting room. As she waited sitting in between Naruto and Sasuke, she finally allowed sleep to come.

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As the white haired man approached his master, seeming angry at something, perhaps himself, he only muttered a three words.

'It didn't work'

'Do not worry Kabuto, all plans have delays. What matters is we achieve what we must at the end' The man said with a sick smile on his face as hi licked his lips with a snake like tongue.

**Yeah Sasuke didn't get the curse mark, I have got other plans. Plus you would have noticed that the three of them are learning to trust each other. This is my longest chapter. Preliminaries are gonna be really interesting but I probably won't update if I don't think the story has sufficient fan base. I have already decided the match ups but if a certain fight gets a lot of votes, I might change them. So give your opinion on tha! **


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